"Reporters Who Use Preferred Pronouns Cannot Be Trusted"
The White House has sparked controversy by announcing a policy of not responding to reporters who do not disclose their biological sex.
On the 9th (local time), The Washington Post (WP) reported a statement sent to the outlet by White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt. In the statement, Levitt said, "Reporters who use their preferred gender pronouns in self-introductions clearly have no interest in biological reality or truth, so they cannot be trusted to write honest articles," adding, "We will not engage with such reporters."
However, the White House did not disclose when this policy was officially implemented. It also did not answer whether this policy applies to emails between White House staff members outside the press office and reporters.
Earlier, The New York Times (NYT) reported that three of its reporters were refused replies from the White House because they used pronouns in emails that did not match their biological sex. Additionally, Matt Burg of the political media outlet Crooked Media said he sent an email listing various pronouns as an experiment to a Trump administration spokesperson but was refused a response.
WP reported that using chosen gender pronouns in emails or face-to-face interactions has spread throughout society in recent years as a way to show support for the transgender and non-binary communities (people who define their gender identity independently beyond the biological binary of male and female). However, the second Trump administration has gone against this trend, issuing a series of anti-transgender policies since its inception.
On January 20, the day of his inauguration, President Donald Trump officially signed an executive order legally recognizing only two biological sexes, male and female. Accordingly, U.S. government agencies were instructed to use the term "sex" rather than "gender" (gender identity), and removed sections on official documents such as passports that allowed for recording a third gender identity beyond male and female.
On the 29th of the same month, the White House directed federal agencies to prohibit the use of "preferred pronouns" in email signatures. Last month, a public official in Texas was fired for refusing to comply with an organizational order to remove such pronouns from their email signature. The U.S. Air Force recently announced a ban on using "preferred pronouns" in email signatures, social media, and official websites.
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